Elijah, the prophet, is on a farewell tour of all the special places he has been. Elisha, his student, heard that Elijah the prophet might be taken up at any time by God and he seems to be very eager to take over, to inherit Elijah’s mantle – to be Elijah’s successor. So when Elijah says, "Stay here. God has sent me on an errand to Bethel." Elisha replies, "Not on your life! I'm not letting you out of my sight!" So they both went." Then Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here. God has sent me on an errand to Jericho." Elisha said, "Not on your life! I'm not letting you out of my sight!" So they both went to Jericho. Then Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here. God has sent me on an errand to the Jordan."   Elisha said, "Not on your life! I'm not letting you out of my sight!" And so the two of them went on their way together.

Finally Elijah says to Elisha – before I go is there anything you want of me? And Elisha states that he wants to take on Elijah’s mantle – literally take it on – as a sign of God’s power and of God being with him. He wants to be a holy man like Elijah and he wants a double dose of Elijah’s spirit. We hear at the end of the reading that he gets his wish. After Elijah is taken up into the heavens – Elisha tears the mantle into and strikes the water with it – the water parts – signifying God is with Elisha. Such eagerness to take on the mantle of discipleship – we have to wonder if Elisha had any idea of what taking on the mantle of leadership meant. Because that mantle means putting others first, it means listening to what God is saying, it means sometimes going into unfriendly territory, it means a life change and for some, it means losing life.

Each week as we read the names off of those who died in the service of this country in Iraq or Afghanistan I think about the cost of taking on the mantle for this country – not only the cost of those who have died but their families as well. I think of the cost of the wounded who have come back, trying to figure out ways to live a life that is close to normal. And I think of all those we cannot begin to count or know – who live in that part of the country – the cost to them – to their children.

Taking on or inheriting the mantle of discipleship, of leadership is a serious and costly garment to put on one’s shoulders.

The apostle Paul tells the Galatians what life is like when people live a life that is only focused on themselves – if they don’t take on the mantle of discipleship. Here is the version The Message by Eugene Peterson:

“It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an importance to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community.” Paul then says, “I could go on.” There’s more? He had me at a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage and ugly parodies of community.

In that long list of bad behaviors I can remember in particular the ugly parodies of community which I experienced one year when some of us from St. Peter’s Cathedral in Florida marched in the Gay Pride Parade.

Here are the reasons we participated:

We marched for those afraid they might lose their jobs if they marched.
We marched for those who needed to know that a church – our church – the Episcopal Church is openhearted and open- minded
We marched to let people know that St. Peter’s was an Episcopal Church where all people were welcomed
We marched for those who were struggling with issues in their lives and needed to know that there were clergy around to whom they could talk
We marched for those who were growing up and seeking a church that was willing to listen to their concerns.
We marched because it was the right thing to do.

As we walked along, carrying our St. Peter’s banner, people would yell out, “Thank you Episcopal Church.” One of the cathedral parishioners came out of the side-lines to say “I never thought I’d see my church marching in this parade.” Since she was there at a sponsoring booth, I took that to be a positive statement. The sidewalks were lined with people – some families sitting on the grass with their picnics and their children playing nearby – all smiling.

Then we came to the protestors – two times in the walking we had to pass by these people who were using bullhorns to yell out hateful and vicious things. They were ugly parodies of community. I remember one sign in particular with the words sinners: unsubmissive women and lazy Christians – there was a much longer list of what they considered to be sin but I got stopped at the unsubmissive women.

I wondered what the day to day life must be like for people who preach hate? Do they get their children up in the morning and say today we’re going to practice yelling at people – here’s a list of damaging words. Nowhere in the gospels does Jesus say, “Hate your neighbor. Do ill to others.” These people had taken on that false mantle – with as Paul says, "a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage” – as we went by – I just gave them a blessing – not that they knew I was clergy – I wasn’t wearing a collar – just at St. Peter’s t-shirt like the rest of the group. But I couldn’t help but think of what evil looks like – in the flesh – an evil that doesn’t realize or recognize what a perversion of the gospel they presented.

Taking on the mantle of discipleship means setting one’s own agenda aside and taking on the responsibility to which the gospel calls us.

Then we come to Jesus and the gospel for today. He has turned his face to Jerusalem, meaning he is resolutely going on to face his destiny. He needs his disciples to get prepared to take on his mantle – to carry on when he is gone. On the road someone asked Jesus if he could go along. "I'll go with you, wherever," he said. But Jesus was short with the man: "Are you ready to rough it? We're not staying in the best inns, you know.” “Follow me,” he says. But there are no Elishas here – eager to take on that mantle. Just a bunch of "I’dgobots". “I’d go Jesus, BUT I’ve got this other thing to do. And Jesus tells them now is the time – not when you’ve gotten everything figured out – and your house in order – when you are called is the time to take on that mantle.

I like to go on retreat to the isle of Iona, Scotland. You have to want to be there. It requires a plane, a bus, a ferry, a bus, and a ferry to get there. It is the sacred place where some of our music on Sunday and the Wednesday night liturgy comes from. Only a few people live there year round…and it is staffed by a small amount of paid Iona Community members and then greatly helped out by a cadre of volunteers who come from March through November. Once when I was on retreat I talked to some of the volunteers because I was considering applying to do just that – live there for six weeks and volunteer. They told me it was hard work – 8 hours a day – maybe in the kitchen – or cleaning bathrooms – or doing maintenance work. The living quarters shared with between 5 and 10 other people sounded more like camping out. Camping out to me is a room at the Hilton.

Well, I was staying at the St. Columba hotel next to the abbey – it’s quite comfortable and the food is superb. So I said to John Philip Newell, the retreat leader ,“Hey I’m going to apply for a grant for a sabbatical – I could do the volunteer work for the community during the day BUT live here at the St. Columba.” He gave me one of those pitying looks and said, “Well my dear, I don’t think that would be quite the spirit that is intended.”

On Iona all are equal. No one person above another. All share in the work. All share in the worship. All share in the joy.

Taking on the mantle of discipleship is a shared ministry.

Several years ago I attended a concert given by the Bethune -Cookman Concert Chorale. Founded by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune in 1904 as a school for girls, Bethune-Cookman University is a historically Black, United Methodist Church-related university which offers baccalaureate and master’s degrees. The mission is to serve in the Christian tradition the diverse educational, social, and cultural needs of its students and to develop in them the desire and capacity for continuous intellectual and professional growth, leadership and service to others.

The original Concert Chorale was begun by Dr. McLeod and consisted of six singers. It grew to a membership of over one hundred members. The following verse from a popular gospel selection is indicative of what Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune must have thought when she organized the first Bethune-Cookman College Concert Chorale in 1904:

"You may build cathedrals grand and tall,
You may build skyscrapers large and small;
You may conquer all the failure of your past,
But, only what you do for Christ will last."

When I saw the group, the conductor of the Chorale was Dr. Rebecca W. Steele. She had been at Bethune-Cookman since 1976 and before that she was at Florida A & M for 29 years. So you might safely say that Dr. Steele was a woman of mature age, and a very petite one at that. She did not stand in front of the Chorale but rather sat in the front pew of the church, directing from where she sat. Watching and listening to that magnificent chorale - a hundred + young people – all standing proud and tall – was a great experience. I noticed that there was a printed program, but the music presented did not come in the order that was printed. So whenever Dr. Steele crooked her finger at a one of the young people, they would smile, step forward and sing with great gusto. So to be in Dr. Steele’s chorale, you had to be ready to step forward and sing – and not just sing – but sing well – whenever you were called on.

This is what picking up the mantle is about… being prepared to sing out at a moment’s notice. And sisters and brother, life is like that printed program.

There is an outline – but we don’t know the order in which we’ll be called on to sing.

Life is all too short to get bogged down, too focused on – as Paul says in The Message translation: “our own all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; and cut-throat competitions.” To be followers of Christ requires more than just saying, “I’ll follow you Jesus.” It means actually doing ministry – picking up the mantle – noticing who needs our attention and help – and actually doing something.

At the conference I attended at Kanuga a couple of weeks ago some of the women kept saying to Fran, the musician, “Fran it’s too cold can you fix the fan? Fran it’s too hot, can you turn up the fan? Fran can you drive us to the lodge in the golf cart?” I told him I was going to make a sign saying, “I am the musician not the maintenance man.” Being involved means doing something yourself – not always relying on ‘someone’ to do the work.

Here at St. Gregory’s someone has actually said to another person, “Why didn’t someone put the toilet paper on the roll?” Who would that someone be?

We are all too quick to complain about what we don’t like without we ourselves taking on the mantle of leadership which could improve the situation.

What we need here at St. Gregory’s are people who will pick up the mantle – no ‘Idgobots’ rather people who are willing to use their time and energy and commitment to Christ whenever and wherever needed. We enjoy our fellowship and coffee hour after the service but in order to have that hospitality people need to sign their name on a date – you can always buddy up with another person – and then on that date provide some refreshments.

We have agreed to participate in the Food Panty – we only do this twice a year – and The Soup Kitchen – again, we only do this twice a year – but it does require more than just putting up a sign-up sheet. It requires actually writing your name on the sheet on a particular day – and then doing it. I guarantee you will be enriched by helping others.

We are a small community – where everyone needs to pitch in to help out. We take out our own trash. We clean up our own kitchen. We take turns reading the lessons or ushering or setting the altar for the worship service or whatever is needed. Everyone’s participation is needed in order for this place to be the thriving, healthy, vibrant community which lives into our mission statement: At St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church we explore the profound life and radical teachings of Jesus Christ, through the practice of a living faith.

Jesus spoke directly to his disciples, “Follow me in this shared ministry now…in the present.” In community life the Iona example of wearing the mantle is a shared one. Consider this your invitation…where you are strongly encouraged to pick up and share the mantle of discipleship.

Accept it and wear it proudly. Now.